BY BARBARA TRAININ BLANK
FOR THE PATRIOT-NEWS

For the record, yes, it is that Steve Martin.

And, yes, the former stand-up comic turned actor/author/ screenwriter has fashioned a clever idea about two creative people into his first full-length play.

It is 1904. Albert Einstein is about to publish his landmark work on the theory of relativity. Pablo Picasso is on the verge of exiting his "blue period" to paint the revolutionary "Demoiselles d’Avignon."

Martin places both geniuses in a Paris bar to muse about the battle of the sexes, the origins of the universe and creativity — not to mention make somewhat hilarious (in retrospect, at least) prognostications about the new century.

Aiding (or hampering) them in their musings — depending on your point of view — are the bartender/owner and his wife. an inventor no one has heard of eager to join their company as an acknowledged genius-to-be, a few attractive women and a visitor from later in the century who comes to Paris via a time warp.

What all this means, and how amusing you’ll find it, is up for grabs. Martin mingles funny lines with juvenile ones, true profundity with the more forced kind.

What’s crystal clear is that Theatre Harrisburg artistic director Thomas G. Hostetter has assembled a talented cast perfectly at ease with the proceedings.

Adding to the naturalism are the set design by Curtis E. Smith and costumes by Paul R. Foltz.

Allen N. Marshall’s light design is most stellar in the final scene.

It’s particularly fun watching Peter Kurie as Einstein and Chris Dickson as Picasso spar about ideas, most notably in their impromptu drawing "contest."

Dickson brings a graceful elegance to the role of the painter, which helps explain the attraction of women to a man almost as renowned for his conquests as for his art. There is even a poignancy to his reminiscences with Suzanne, a woman with whom he has had two brief encounters.

Though a high-school senior, Kurie easily projects the maturity and intellectual wizardry of the 25-year-old Einstein. But his Chaplinesque quality makes the scientist more human, especially in his flirtation with the Countess and Suzanne.

Having debuted as Mine. de Tourvel in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses earlier in the season, Leigh Detra Mallonee is given a chance to show a comic and sensual side as Germaine, wife of bartender Freddy with an interest in Picasso.

As her sometimes profound husband, Jonathan DeYoung warms up to the role a bit more slowly but is scintillating by the final toast.

Jim Lewis excels at comic absurdity. The part of the bar regular Gaston, with his self-pitying adjustment to being "newly old," suits his talent perfectly.

John DiNunzio, in his stage debut, plays the instantly identifiable visitor with gusto, representing (I guess) the triumph of popular over weighty culture.

Changing wigs, Kathleen Hachten takes on three roles with versatility. Most prominent is that of Suzanne, to which she brings the right sentimentality and sexiness.

Jay Miffoluf commands the stage as Sagot, the bombastic art dealer who knows he might hold more power over the creative process than either Picasso or Einstein.